Tag: deer crossing

So, I’m headed to a meeting, driving down the road and up ahead I see a young deer standing by a deer crossing sign. I confirm, my headlights are on, and check the rearview mirror to see there are two cars behind me and one headed toward me in the other lane. I appear to make eye contact with the deer and I think to myself, “Don’t do it…”

What do you think happens next?

The deer leaps in front of my truck.

I stomp on the breaks, see and hear the impact from connecting with the deer as it vanishes from my view. Oncoming traffic and the two cars pass as I settle to the side of the road. I get out of the truck to survey the situation because the deer must be lodged under my truck.

As I get out and walk around the front of my vehicle I can see frantically flailing deer limbs stabbing the bank of the road. Overwhelmed, fearing the worst, I place my hand over my heart and think, “What do I do?”

Just then, one of the deer’s hooves grips enough traction in the side of the road to pull itself out from under the truck, apparently shaken and unharmed (though probably bruised) gains its balance, pauses (appearing to make eye contact again) then bounds off disappearing into the brush.

Checking out my vehicle while I make my way back to the driver’s seat, I conclude there was no damage to the truck from this interaction with the deer. I buckle my safety belt, put my hands on the wheel, close my eyes for a moment and thank God for His amazing blessings, then assess my surroundings, check the rearview mirror and resume my journey.

Life goes on…

Now, this wasn’t my first encounter with a deer; that was back when Sascha was in school basketball and I was three-hour-driving a minivan full of tweenage girls to their team’s basketball tournament. We were in the left lane. Three car-lengths ahead of us, in the right lane was a silver Lincoln. The girls looking out the windows spotted a deer alongside the right side of the road.

“Awe, look at the deer,” said Sascha, as the attentions of all the young basketball players focused on the deer, posing like an elegant diva for the girls to admire and fawn upon with coos, oohs, and ahs…

Bam! Without notice, the deer jumped in front of the Lincoln, hit, then bolted straight over the silver car, erratically tumbling through the air, flew awkwardly over the top of the van full of screaming girls and landing in the bushes on the opposite side of the road.

If you’re anything, like me, when you read the words, “What do you think happens next?” at that point in time and space, a dozen scenarios flashed through my mind, hoping the most likely option would be my nodding to the deer as I passed by.

At the, “Life goes on…” portion of my life jolt, as I continued to drive to my appointment, I imagined a hundred different ways this could have rolled out in real time…

Of all the things that could have happened, what had actually occurred would have been toward the top of my list of options, had I been able to choose.